Day 10- So much to post!!!

Oh wow, so much has happened since we last had WiFi.

Currently sitting on a night train from Trondheim...so I have a moment.

On Monday, we went on a road trip with Anne, Dina, and Peter to the cabin at Røros. Peter drove us the 6 plus hour journey, and the poor man must have been driven crazy as me and soph attempted to learn Norwegian.








The house was truly beautiful!






And the view... We could see all the way to Sweden.




Tuesday:

We went to Olavs mines and went 50 meters under the ground, which might not seem like much, but imagine this; the trust in 300 year old tunnels, the fact that it is a constant 5 degrees, and that huge pumps evacuate a minimum of 20 liters of water an hour... It doesn't really paint enough of a picture of the amazing experience. We had fun.










Then we came out of the mines, blinking into the sun, and went to have apple cake with Dina in the beautiful UNESCO world heritage site that is the town of Røros.







The rest of the week was just sop and I, and has been full of reading, dinners, walks, water and larks.

Our big walk consisted of 3 and a half hours of being lost, but having a jolly good time exploring and trying our best to track some elk. Tragically, the 'moose fur' that we were following for so long, turned out to be a strange, thin, brown, lychen.












( Doing my Dad's pose, very shortly before I fell in. What a fool)

I managed to swim out to an island. Admittedly, a very close island. But still.



Our taxi driver to the station this morning has the wonderful first name of Stig. No joke. We can forever say that not only did we meet the Stig, but we were driven by him. Plus he had a cracking moustache, as seen in my very cheeky, sneaky picture:


But for now, we are on a night train, it's midnight, it's only just about becoming twilight, and the night pack we have been given ( blanket, mask, earplugs, pillow) has excited us a lot.

I'll let you know more about our cracking adventures soon.

Day 4 - Galleries and Planning

Hey guys, looks like this shall be the last blog for a long while, so you are free of the constant babble I've been spamming you with.

We are off into the wilderness with Anne tomorrow, and very excited to be moving into the north. The plan, for those who want to visualise our exploration 'into the wild', is as follows: Røros, Bodø, lofoten islands, Bodø, trondheim, ålesund, balestrand, bøyum, Bergen, arendal, stravanger, lysefjord, mandal,Oslo, home( on the 19th).

Today we played culture vultures and went to a couple of galleries. We saw the infamous 'scream' by Munch. And, of course, it was a slight disappointment. Crayon on cardboard... come on now. However his other work was pretty cool. Especially Øye. And we did see other pieces from other artists too. My fave was Kitty Kielland's 'Sommernatt', so whimsy.

We had a little read in the sun in the park and then came back for dinner and planning whilst we still have internet.

So we're off, into the fjords, into the arctic circle, into the midnight sun... with a tent and food, and the hope to see some beautiful things. Wish us luck!

Hadet bra for now everyone! Will update you next time I can.

Love to everyone! xx





Sophie having a paddle by the modern art gallery

Day Three - Vikings and a poorly ankle

Today we went museum hunting, which was really interesting, and we ended our adventures of old things with some shrimps and coffee in a harbourside cafe.
All was well, except that I twisted my ankle again. As a lot of you know, this is annoyance number one in my life, but at least I didn't break it this time.
We''re back at the house and I'm in recovery mode - I'm determined to climb mountains later, I do not want pain to hold me back.

But on the upside, had my first dialogue with someone entirely in Norwegian!! Only to buy a ticket, but baby steps!


P.S. Check out my great idea for learning the language!

Day Two - Sleepy Gals

Today we took things quite slowly. We got up at 10, a completely absurd notion for me; so late in the morning! But, we did need it.

After coffee and breakfast, we ventured out into, the still very humid, Oslo.
We had a little adventure of shops and the flower market, and it took a lot of willpower (and the knowledge that my wonderful parents are lending me a lot of money for this trip) to resist the beautiful, simple designs of Norway.

We came back to the house for a late lunch and a little nap ( we must have caught up on all possible sleep now...) before we went to dinner.

Dinner was a wonderful home cooked meal with Anna ( Sophie's dad's cousin) and husband Harold ( the chef for tonight). Perfectly cooked beef, rare and perfectly timed, served simply with potatoes and veg. A fruity red wine completed a great meal.

Anna's cousin joined us afterwards, and we all discussed life, education, cultures and language.

Super determined to make sure that we can speak to them in Norwegian when we return to them in a month's time, we were straight on the Norwegian lessons when we got home. Funniest word today: 'rummpetroll', which means 'tadpole'... but literally means 'bumtroll'. Sophie and I enjoyed this new knowledge. Sadly, I think that we may not remember any other words so clearly, and we may never be able to get it into natural conversation.

Any way, natte! ( goodnight!)

Day One - The Architourists

After our little shopping trip, we went for lunch with Alf, from Dark Architects, and his daughter. Sop and I had beautiful salads and fish, and the post-lunch tour around the studios was fantastic. I want to work in a practice like theirs.

My word will have to suffice for how amazing the practice is. I didn't want to be that weirdo who takes photos constantly...

Then we all went by car to visit the real life built versions of the models in the studio. Mind blowing. The cantilevered white building in particular was so overwhelming, in a way that i've only felt a few times before.

Aaaaand then onto the Oslo Opera building, of course.

After an iced coffee break we went back to the house to nap before an exhibition this evening, which we unfortunately missed due to exhaustion. Sad and tired girly.

Had dinner, and had a stroll around the park with the 'man kicking baby' statue in it. Thought this would help me fall asleep, but alas, check out the last photos for how light it is now (2200 local time).

Blackout blinds are great. Sorry for the sideways pics- no option to change it on my phone.

Abi out.